


Opportunities Rising

by VivificanousPrime



Series: Before I Left You [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Difficult Decisions, Established Relationship, Politics, Pre-War, Recruitment, pre-crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:16:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VivificanousPrime/pseuds/VivificanousPrime
Summary: The Autobots are an elite group of revolutionaries seeking to remove the corrupt from power. To be invited into their ranks is an honor seldom given.Perceptor was sure his friend and fellow scientist, Skyfire, would be a perfect addition to the organization.The conversation doesn't go as planned.(Can be read separate from Part 1)
Relationships: Skyfire & Perceptor, Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers)
Series: Before I Left You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1723519
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	Opportunities Rising

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is quick dialogue between Percy and Skyfire pre-war. Politics heavy, so be warned. (I'm using Sentinel Prime's IDW and G1 look, for context)
> 
> As usual, all my writing exists in the same storyline. You can also read this independent from Part 1, but there are references to the other fic in this.

Perceptor strode down the hall with an anxious spark. This conversation needed to happen if their organization was going to gain more traction. Skyfire was exactly the kind of mind they sought out, and he was fairly certain of the shuttle’s politics. But a wrong word could cost them an ally and him a close friend. Whatever the case, he was about to alter his friend’s life. Perceptor could only hope it was for the better.

Skyfire’s office was on the top floor of Farsight Science Tower. A step up from the basement he was originally settled in, especially now that a wet lab was connected to the office, but the view of Iacon from this vantage point only escalated Perceptor’s anxiety. He tried to focus on the hallway, to block out the window scene. There was really no reason to feel on edge, he told himself as he quickened his pace. Skyfire would surely join them or at the very least show his support. 

He cycled his vents once the office door was in view, ajar as usual. Perceptor still felt compelled to knock. 

“Greenlight?” a deep voice asked from inside. Perceptor relaxed. He had never realized just how disarming Sky’s tone could be.

“No, it’s Percy.”

“Ah!” Skyfire perked up. “Come right in! I’m in the need of a break.”

Perceptor was already pushing passed the door by the time the shuttle had welcomed him. Skyfire was standing up from behind his desk at the far right wall, gathering several data pads into a neat stack. Perceptor idled in the entryway before shutting the door and making his way to the window wall. 

Again, Percy was suddenly grateful for Skyfire’s atmosphere. His office offered an exquisite, if a little daunting, view of Iacon’s skyline and the Academy stretched out below. Everything felt lived in, but not unorganized. The desk stood furthest from the door backed by a wall of filled bookshelves. The left wall opposite the windows was occupied by project posters and writing boards covered with notes and drawings of various biomolecules. 

Perceptor stood in the other half of the room, the “Cozy Corner” as Sky called it. His coworker had once explained that his students frequently reported how stressful entering a professor’s office could be, so he had made sure in his office that everyone walked into a lovely seating area framed by abstract art and natural lighting. Four chairs of various sizes and styles circled a spacious table, and Perceptor sidestepped around the furniture to claim his favorite. The smaller chair backed by the window wall faced the door and the desk at an angle that allowed Percy to comfortably see the entire room and offered him the best scenery. Percy allowed his sight and mind to wonder between the notes and art lining the walls as Skyfire drug his desk chair around to the Cozy Corner. 

“Primes, it’s late!” Percy jerked at his friend’s sudden exclamation. Skyfire frowned to him in an apology. “I didn’t realize the time is all. Need anything? I forgot to grab a cube earlier, so I’ll have one now if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all,” Percy responded. “Ah, no need. I’m fine.”

Perceptor cringed once Skyfire turned his back to him. He didn’t much care for watching Skyfire doctor his energon with how much additive the shuttle felt the need to add. Percy had a slight suspension Skyfire acquired his personality from the atrocious amount of sweetener he regularly ingested. 

The aerial view of Iacon distracted him as Skyfire walked back to his desk to commit crimes against taste. People rushed about below them, speeding through the streets, pushing passed one another. To anyone else, the scene perhaps would not have been so loud, but Percy felt heavy. No one down below felt the same weight of their world’s problems, so preoccupied with their own agendas as they were. 

“So now,” Skyfire caught his attention. The shuttle settled down, leaning back as he stirred his energon. “What brings you?”

Percy in-vented, shifting in his seat to better face Sky. “Quite a few things, my friend.”

“Go on, then. I’m all yours,” Skyfire looked up from his cube to shoot him a disarming smile. 

It was enough to put Percy more at ease. So, he began. “I don’t think I need to mention that you hold no love for the current governing body.” Skyfire cocked his helm, expression curious. “Well, you’ve certainly been out-spoken. Take just the other cycle: the protests against the energon mining in Protihex.”

Skyfire sipped his cube deliberately. “You can’t go about tearing apart the landscape, especially when the area is protected.”

“Right,” Perceptor sat forward. “You support the protesters—”

“Well, it is it _their_ land.”

“—precisely, yes. And you held no reservations about placing the blame—”

“If Sentinel doesn’t want credit, then he shouldn’t be bragging about his choices during conferences.”

“—I agree, yes. That can be said for a number of issues. Including over funding the military, disregarding the healthcare crisis—”

“Withholding funding for education programs, his blatant disrespect for anyone not of his own frame type and class,” Skyfire set his cube in his lap. “I can continue on and on, you know.” Worry then dawned his kind features. “Has the orange idiot done something else?”

“It’s more something to be done about him that I came to discuss.”

That worry didn’t leave Skyfire’s frame. If anything, he seemed to grow more unease in the way he shifted his wings a little higher. But still he nodded, prompting an elaboration.

“There exists an organization,” Percy began, “whose aim is to remove those in office who have proven themselves unfit.” Perceptor leaned in, on the edge of his seat. “We are legitimate, my friend. This is not a small outfit meeting to simply complain; we are a political movement designed to peacefully reform the current leadership. Shockwave, the senator who founded the Jhiaxian Program, heads us alongside Senator Dai Atlas. Recruitment into this group is taken quite seriously. As such, it took several cycles of prompting to have them considering your addition, but they agreed with my suggestion. 

“You would make a great asset, Skyfire, as you are knowledgeable on a number of fronts and can represent the plight of flyer frames.” Percy gathered himself. “In short, I am here to formally invite you to a meeting with the Autobots.”

Skyfire had maintained considerate eye contact the whole while Percy had spoken. When finished, he allowed the invitation to hang in the air as he lifted his cube to sip at its contents slowly, deep in thought. Perceptor worried a moment if he was perhaps contacting Starscream to inform him of their ongoings. The seeker had been a quick ‘no’ in discussing new recruits, but Perceptor knew he couldn’t deny Sky to ability to talk everything through with his partner. 

He shifted uncomfortably again as he watched Skyfire deliberate, a nagging feeling tugging at him. 

“Kind of you to offer, ‘Ceptor,” Skyfire finally said, eyes downcast, “but I’m afraid I have to decline.”

The scientist stared blankly at the shuttle. He had prepared to ease Skyfire’s initial concerns but had not thought that he would outright refuse so soon.

Skyfire gifted him a small smile. “Not what you wanted to hear, I’m sure.”

“Well, no, of course.” Perceptor moved his gaze to various items in the office, avoiding the large flyer. “It’s not at all what I expected.”

“I’m sorry, ‘Ceptor, but I just can’t.”

“You favor Senator Shockwave, though, yes?”

“Aye,” Skyfire lifted his chin towards him, “and Atlas to some degree. Doesn’t mean I’d join their movement, though. I think all the likes of them are corrupt in some way; Shockwave’s agenda just happens to better align with mine.”

“You can’t stand Sentinel, though.”

“No, not in the slightest. If you told me he was Unicron incarnate I’d believe you, no question.”

“And you want to see him removed?”

“I think Star would govern us all better, and that’s saying something.” He took another sip, quirking his optic ridges in humor.

“Then why not support a motion to remove him as Prime?”

Skyfire cycled his vents, setting his cube back on his lap. “What you ask of me is risky, my friend.”

“I can’t argue that it isn’t.”

“But risky for me is not the same as it is for you.” Skyfire fixed him with a pointed look. Perceptor stared at him right back, confused. With another vent, Sky explained, “I am in an entirely different circumstance, yes?”

“You mean as a flyer?”

“The consequences are far greater for me,” Sky nodded. “I am willing to bet there’s no one like me to be found in that group of yours. Everyone is a middle to high caste grounder, much like yourself.”

Perceptor was ready to protest, to cite a name or two that would prove him otherwise, but found he drew a blank. Going through the list of members, Perceptor was stunned to realize how correct Skyfire was. His face must have said it all as Skyfire waved a servo in dismissal. 

“Don’t bother fretting. It’s the way of things, try as you might to change it.”

“We may have a disproportionate number of grounders to flyers, but there is a fair amount of variety among that.”

“I don’t doubt. Still different circumstances, though. I am at the lower end of the middle class and a shuttle—an oxymoron, really—but I live a life of considerable privilege. I am free to speak my mind for the most part, whether that be for or against the presiding Prime. It’s my right as a citizen. Speaking my beliefs, however, is entirely different from acting on them.”

“That’s why we need more minority inclusion: to better understand everyone’s situation to create a Cybertron suited for all its people, not just its elite ground frames.”

“You know there’s more of me than there are of you?” Skyfire lifted an optic ridge in a challenge. Before Percy could respond, Sky continued. “Iacon is already a better place. I know I speak for many when I say that, but take just me as evidence. You know what it is I was in Vos?”

Perceptor sat back and nodded. “Transport.”

“No,” Skyfire adopted a serious tone, “I was a number. It was my function—my ‘divine’ function—to serve those considered above me. I lent my body to others not as a person but as an object. A tool for getting people and their things from place to place. The only way Vos avoids charges for slave labor is by providing us an income, a low amount mind you, and by lacking physical chains.

“Now look at my life here. I have things to say and am free to say them. I can own things,” he gestured to office space, “and go where I please. I can pursue my loves,” Skyfire smiled gently at that, “my passions for knowledge and a certain seeker. All things I never thought possible to me now are.”

“But you are still not considered an equal, Skyfire,” Perceptor countered. “True that you have experienced far worse, and I am grateful for your optimism, but please don’t lie to yourself, my friend,” Percy gestured with outstretched servos. “Were you to speak of politics to the wrong person or your opinions become too public, you stand to lose your position here a researcher and educator. And acquiring your property has been no easy feat. Starscream has certainly been vocal about how difficult it can be to acquire loans or other such financial aids to pay for common necessities like your housing. And I have been out with the both of you enough times to know which streets you fear to walk down, and which enforcers are likely to stop you.” Perceptor shook his head, incredulous. “And you haven’t even told some of our close colleagues of your relations with Starscream much less our supervisors.”

“Now, that last bit is more for the sake of the grant we just applied for.” Skyfire held up a servo to pause him. “Can’t have conflicting interests is all.” He took another dismissive sip of his energon. “Interfacing with Star has many consequences, but losing funding won’t be one of them, I’ll make sure of that. We’ll be public after our expedition.” Skyfire took another draw at his cube in thought. “On that note, it might be best I not involve myself in an anti-government movement least something goes wrong and we lose our government funding. Our post-trip aid, should we be successful, would be coming from, you know, the government.”

Perceptor opted to ignore that terrible mental image of his two coworkers. He was more surprised at the reveal of Skyfire’s motives. “You mean to tell me finances play a part in this?”

Skyfire looked at him as though he were coming to understand he was the most intelligent person in the room. “It’s not a secret my and Star’s salaries are far lower than yours.”

“I’m aware, yes.”

“As we are, we have the means to support ourselves but not much more. The bonus we would each receive from our energon research would afford us the opportunity to add on.” His optics suddenly brightened as he spoke. “It’d be enough of a boost to start trying for a family. A massive expense when you consider that seekers come in threes.”

“As happy as I am for the both of you and wish you the most success, you know your salaries are lower because you haven’t received proper recognition for your work,” Perceptor pointed out.

“Aye, it’s annoying,” Skyfire agreed, “but I don’t care much for being recognized. That’s most likely the reason the higher ups are going with, but our income is lower because Star and I have wings.” The massive appendages twitched in emphasis. “Plastering our names on papers won’t change that.”

“Yes, but—”

“I care that my work is done and done right not that I am known for it.”

A heavy silence invaded the space, penetrated only by Skyfire’s absentminded stirring. Perceptor moved back in his chair, leaning into it as he racked his mind for a better argument. But Skyfire was an unmovable force. And more intelligent than he let on. No doubt any point Perceptor could hope to make would be perfectly countered. There was nothing left for him to say.

Skyfire offered him a kind look of understanding, smiling his usual charming smile. “My life can be complicated. Living in Iacon with my frame outside my function can be complicated. But do know,” he tapped a knuckle on the table, “that this in no way affects my political stance. Were I in a frame such as yours, there would be no question in my mind to join you. As I am, all I can give you is my support.”

Perceptor straightened. “You would?”

With a nod, Sky said, “So long as my name never is mentioned should your movement crash—though I pray Primus will spare you that—I have no quarrels with aiding you,” Sky’s face split into a cheery smirk, “unofficially.” 

“Of course, yes!” Perceptor agreed. “Your name will be entirely left out of conversation. As will for you the term ‘Autobot’, I presume?”

“Aye, you won’t hear a thing from me. Or Star.”

“And this little discussion never happened,” Perceptor said with finality as he rose to leave. 

But Skyfire remained steady in his seat, staring at him hard enough to halt his movements mid-stand. The smile had faded, replaced by a concentrated line.

“No,” Skyfire finally said. “I won’t be going about my business now in quite the same way.” 

Feeling that the conversation was not as ended as he thought, Perceptor slowly sat back. “How so?”

Skyfire lifted his chin in his direction. “I know now of an uprising. A change in the winds I can now account for.” His gaze drifted to the city outside his window, optics tracking the movements of those below. “No, this conversation most certainly happened. It was necessary. Marks something pivotal.” Intelligent optics moved back to eye Perceptor. There in lied a sagacious wisdom he wasn’t privy to. Skyfire was not ignorant; he was aware of the tensions threatening to boil over and seemed, in that moment, to know something the rest of the world did not. “I’m glad you came, ‘Ceptor. We both have grown in this short moment, I think.” Whatever had overtaken Percy’s friend faded into his usual bright smile. “I’m fortunate to know that in these times of chaos that I can call you my friend.”

Perceptor quelled his unease, putting on an equally optimistic grin. “As am I. The world continues to grow more complex.”

Skyfire nodded at him. “Indeed. Tensions are rising, my friend. I’m lucky to know Starscream and I have allies.”

**Author's Note:**

> For whatever reason, I visualize Skyfire sounding a lot like Hozier. Think it suits him.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! I love feedback, so let me know what you think!  
> Please stay safe out there while the world goes crazy!


End file.
